This study examines the impact of fluctuating political costs on the level of Australian mining industry firms' discretionary accruals. Political costs manifest in the terms of the potential loss of valuable taxation concessions granted to the industry. The results failed to support the hypothesis that the election of the Australian Labor Party in 1972 created incentives for firms to make income-decreasing discretionary accounting accrual choices. Longitudinal comparisons of political cost levels also failed to yield significant results. In light of Sidhu and Whittred's (1993) finding, the results suggest the accruals methodology may be inappropriate to industries exhibiting characteristics similar to those studied here.